Definitely one of the most exceptional towns you’ll visit in the Aegean islands.
To this day it remains almost unchanged and unspoilt to modern life, although more and more people visiting will eventually lead to tourism becoming the locals’ primary occupation and source of income.
Olympos was actually cut off from the rest of Karpathos until the construction of the road was completed, only recently, in the 1990’s. Getting to Olympos from Pigadia should take you a little more than an hour and the road, especially from Spoa onwards, is at some points a little tricky. Beware of fallen rocks, I actually had to have my rental car towed after hitting a large rock and the car engine shut off and wouldn’t ignite. That was pretty much in the middle of nowhere so just be a little extra careful on the road.
The best way to see Olympos is to park the car at the entrance of the town (there’s a parking spot) and climb the stairs up, while walking around the alleys. You’ll see locals, particularly elderly women, dressed in traditional clothings and uniforms, speaking their own Karpathian dialect. Also, the houses are stunningly beautiful, with light blue, pink, yellow, green colours. It really is an incredibly photogenic town.